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Those in marketing communications (marcoms), understand the value in delivering a clear message to the right audience, in the right way, and at the right time. The developments seen in the health and life sciences sector in recent years have created significant demand for marcoms services. Expertise range from the design of patient portals for health care providers, to effective and compliant strategies for pharmaceuticals and data-informed messaging for self-managed care devices.

Marcoms agencies that have adapted well against this transformative backdrop have seen high demand for their services and, in some cases, their entire business.

Here we look at the current challenges marketing and communication firms are tackling for clients in the health sector, as well as the opportunities for specialist agencies looking for acquirers or Private Equity investment.

Target: WONGDOODY is a US-based creative agency with studios in Seattle and Los Angeles providing strategy, research, brand and marketing positioning, creative design, advertising and production services across industries.

Buyer:Infosys is a global listed technology services player headquartered in India.

Deal Value: $75.0m

Deal Insight:This transaction exemplifies two important market trends. Firstly, it demonstrates the convergence of creative media with technology and consulting, as large technology players look to broaden their customer-focused advisory skills and take a larger share of the growing digital transformation consulting market. The deal also highlights the demand from the Indian outsourcers for US-based high-margin capabilities that enable them to build skills further up the consulting value chain.

The deal develops Infosys’ global connected network of Digital Studios to help clients respond to digital disruption of their industries. WONGDOODY builds on Infosys’ acquisition of UK-based product design and customer experience innovator Brilliant Basics, which was acquired last year for c.$9.7m.

2017 was a year of continued growth for Equiteq and further disruption of business models, which is transforming the industry that we have been tracking for 15 years. The disruption of the traditional consulting model from technology-enabled innovation, combined with economic trends, has led us to transition the definition of our industry coverage from consulting to the broader transforming knowledge economy. Our Global Knowledge Economy M&A report delivers you with actionable intelligence into the latest M&A and equity market trends across the knowledge economy, along with tips on how to consider these findings in the context of growing and selling your consulting or technology firm.

We have had a strong start to 2018 across regions, advising a variety of knowledge economy clients on their equity growth and closing a number of high-profile transactions. Here we highlight our advisory work with clients which resulted in M&A deal closures during the first quarter.

CMF Associates, a provider of transaction and transition-focused financial, operational and human capital solutions, was successfully sold to professional services firm CBIZ, Inc. The US-based firm services private equity firms and their portfolio companies across North America.

Equiteq were initially called upon to determine CMF’s market attractiveness and then hired as the exclusive sell-side advisor for the transaction process.

By Pierre Briand, Managing Director, Equiteq Australia and New Zealand

This year’s Financial ReviewClient Choice Awardsproved that the Australian and New Zealand professional services sector is going from strength to strength. At a glittering award ceremony held in Melbourne last night, professional services firms and practitioners were rewarded for the excellent quality and service they provide to their clients.

Deal Insight:In October of last year, The Times of India reported that Cognizant and Apax Partners were among shortlisted suitors for a potential acquisition of LiquidHub for as much as $600m. At the beginning of February, Capgemini announced that it would acquire the business for almost two times its revenue.

LiquidHub was founded in 2000 and raised $52.54m of Series B venture funding from ChrysCapital in 2014. The investment put the company’s pre-money valuation at $116.67m and enabled it to make investments in its growth including completing a number of acquisitions over 2016 and 2017. The company’s shareholder includes key management and investor ChrysCapital.

In a recent interview with Financier Worldwide, David Jorgenson, chief executive of Equiteq, suggests deal flow in 2018 will be supported by continued low interest rates and large pools of capital available for acquisitions among both strategic buyers and private equity investors.

With the forecast for M&A in 2018 predicted to be as lucrative as 2017, it’s anticipated businesses will continue to see a rise in unsolicited approaches from buyers. In fact, about a third of Equiteq transactions start with a client receiving an approach from a buyer.

However, despite a seller receiving an enquiry, there is no guarantee that a deal will be done. In reality, given the number of companies looked at by Trade and PE investors, the chance of it closing can be relatively low, so taking the right approach from the very beginning is essential in maximizing the opportunity and minimizing the opportunity cost of wasted effort.

In this blog Bruce Ramsay, managing director, business development at Equiteq, shares his thoughts on how best to manage the process from initial approach to a closed deal.

In his three-part series, Build or Buy? Equiteq’s Adam Blatchford discusses the pillars for successful growth through acquisition. In part one Adam addressed the strategic advantages acquisitions can offer.

Here in part two, he looks at the ways a professional service firm can fund an acquisition.

Generally, M&A news tends to give the impression that acquisition is an exercise exclusive to huge corporations with big cash balances. In the last year the consulting sector has seen a number of multi-billion dollar deals, including Blackstone spending $4.8 billion for Aon’s HR Outsourcing business to create Alight Solutions, and $2.6 billion for British engineering consultancy Atkins from SNC-Lavalin.

This perception fails to scratch the surface of acquisitions and hides the real picture. Of more than 2,500 consulting deals that took place in 2017, the mean deal size was a more reasonable $69 million. The median deal was even lower at $12 million, meaning half of all deals took place below this threshold. These numbers are far more attainable for a ‘regular’ growth-stage business and demonstrate that an acquisition is more achievable than one might have initially thought.